Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-07-14
TREES FOR FUEL.


| How Harmers Can Materially 8e00oo
Their Living Expenses.
Farmers who pay out the least money
for supplies are ordinarily the ones
who succeed the best Prosperity
largely depends ON keeping down the
running expenses of . farm. Tho
farmer who has little to buy does net
have occasion to sell much in order to
| supply himself with the comforts Of
life. Farmers who live in q portion
Of the country that is sparsely settled
generally buy and sell to q great dis
advantage. Nearly all the products
Of their places. except live stock. COM
lnand low prices. and for some of thsm
there is no market. They have gem
orally poor facilities for keeping milk
and making butter. and as conss-
quence the latter is poor and sells for
less than half the price of that made
in creameries or in large and we'll
managed private dairies. They get
but litNe tor poultry and eggs on ac-
count of the expense OF sending them
to city market. Generally they have
no way of disposing of potatoes. gaz-
den vegetables and small fruits if they
raise more than they need for their
own use. They must depend on tho
sale of corn, small grain, wool and meat
for raising money with which to pur-
chase supplies.
A high price is charged for almost
every thing farmer living remote
from large towns has to buy, and the
quality OF most of the goods Is poor.
Wholesale grOcers and the dealers in
various classes of manufactured articles
keep grades of goods for the city
trade. and others-which are greatly
inferior-for selling to eouatry mer-
chants. Freights are high on all
heavy articles sent long distances into
the country. The credit system largely
prevails there, and the times of pay
ment are uncertain and irregular.
The country merchant is often accused
of charging extortionate prices. and
the difference between what he pays
for goods and what he sells them for is
certainly large, ''but. taking one con-
sideration with another. his lot is not
a happy one
No country In the world is better
supplied with fuel than this. We have
hard and soft coal. peat and wood. The
price of soft coal in most parts of the
West is low. Still. the amount the
average prairie farmer pays for this in
ferior fuel in the course of ayear..is large.
If this is multiplied by the years in a
lifetime it often represents a sum of
money equal to the value of the
farm on which the coal has been con-
sumed. There are few small farms on
which $50 worth of soft coal is not
burned in the course of year. The
coal bill for ten years is $500 and for
fifty years 81. 500. This money might
be saved, and many persons are pre-
pairing to save it. Experiment has
demonstrated that ten acres of land
devoted to the production Of trees will
keep small family supplied with
fuel by the annual increase of wood.
OF course the land is worth some
thing for the production of grass and
cultivated crops. but the trees. if
planted in strips on the north or west
side of farms. will generally pay for
the land they occupy by affording pro-
lection from wind and snow. They
will also greatly add to the value of tho
place by improving its appearance.
In producing the most and the best
fuel. trees that naturally grow tall and
have but few side branches should be
selected, and they should be planted
quite closely. BY planting them near
together they will grow to trunk and
not to branches. They will furnish the
best of cordwood. and the trunks will
be easy to split, as they will contain
but very few knots. Large knots oc-
cur at the base of large limbs or
branches, and are necessary for sup
porting them. Open planting results
in producing trees with wide-speading
branches, whose trunks are full of
large knots, and which can only be
split with great difficulty. Close plant
ing produces tall trees with few spread
ing branches. The knots in the trunks
will be small, rs most of the limbs will
die and drop off before they have at
tanned any considerable size. Ash,
maple and cottonwood trees can be
planted four feet apart. each way.
When large enough to furnish fuel half
of them can be cut out and burned.
BY this process of thinning room will
be obtained for the remainder to grow
in. Tall trees containing but few knots
are easily prepared for fuel, and they
are serviceable fer breaking the force
Of the wind.
Young trees obtained from a nursery
where the seed was planted in rows
arc much better for setting out than
those found in a forest and which can
be had for the trouble of digging them
- and moving them. 1t is compare
lively easy to dig up young trees in q
nursery. rs the ground has been un-
der cultivation. They are likely TO be
tall and STRAIGHT and they will hear